MOBILE PHONES TECHNOLOGY

If you're one of the millions of cell phone users who count on their wireless phone for emergency 911 calling........

You might want to think again.

Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that your 911 call will be routed to an emergency call center. Much less, the emergency dispatcher will have the ability to pinpoint the call's location.

Why?

Part of the problem is lack of service. Often, in more rural areas, your cell phone has fewer towers available to receive reception. And, many of those towers are designed for analog calls - not digital.

But, since the FCC does not require it, fewer carriers offer analog service -- or the ability to connect to it.

Not surprising, since much of the carriers' revenue is dependant on features available only on digital networks.

Another problem?

There is no uniform Ehanced 911 system (E911) for wireless carriers. The FCC neglected to force the carriers to conform their E911 systems to a single technology.

Because of this, there are now two incompatable E911 systems in the works.

Nextel, Sprint and Verizon each have cell phones available that use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to find a caller's location. While Cingular and T-Mobile rely on a triangulation system.

Unfortunately, both E911 systems have their flaws. The GPS system needs a minimum of three satalites to be able to "read" the handset's location. Accuracy can be hampered by heavy vegetation, mountains or tall buildings.

The triangulation system also has its shortcomings, because it relies on the strength and timing of cell towers to determine a location. It, too, requires multiple towers for accuracy. This becomes more difficult in rural areas where towers are scarce.

To compound the problem, Emergency Call Centers are not equipt with the technology needed to field E911 calls. Most smaller centers lack the funding for the sophisticated equiptment, while others lack the knowledge on how to integrate it to their existing system.

According to a 2004 article in the San Diego Union Tribune, only about 12% of the country's 911 centers had the ability to pinpoint the location of wireless phone users emergency calls.

Which cell phone is best?

Dual band, or tri-band phones, allow both analog and digital frequencies. If a 911 call does not connect in a digital mode, the alternate analog network is available.

The FCC also requires that any carrier offering multi-frequency phones must allow the 911 call to roam to another service, if the call can not be completed on their own network.

Currently, only Cingular and Verizon offer dual or tri-bands for both their service and handsets. Sprint PCS and T-Mobile wireless phones operate on a digital band, but allow analog roaming.

Nextel uses its own iDEN network, which has limited roaming ability.

If you check out cellular reviews and comparisons you will find Panasonic wireless hand sets (cell phones) rated among the very best available and the extensive line of Panasonic cell phone accessories are also among the best for quality and performance. The right accessories can greatly enhance the cell phone experience.

When looking at cell phone accessories you need to separate wants and needs. The one absolute necessary accessory is a battery charger. After all, no matter what bells and whistles your phone has, it is worthless if you can't use it. You will also need a hands free vehicle set. In some localities it is required by law if you are going to be using your phone while driving.

Other Panasonic accessories you may want to look at are joysticks for gaming, crystal or flashing keypads and antenna boosters, battery chargers, spare batteries and antennas, changeable faceplates in lots of funky fun colors, USB cable, and connectivity kits for your Panasonic camera phone model EB G60VAVFVMGSM Mobile Photo cell phone, or one of Panasonic's three other camera phones.

The batteries do not go on forever so you will need a battery charger for your home or office and one for your car. You may also want to keep a spare battery around. Antenna booster for areas with weak signals are another good choice. You can also get Panasonic MP3 players and FM radio head set to listen to music between calls.

Whatever accessories you choose, you can rely on Panasonic to offer high quality, high performance, affordable accessories

Motorola Razr for CDMA Users

Motorola is marketing different phones for men and women. Moto’s newest line of pink and blue Razr offspring seems to assume that there are men who will prefer blue and women who will want the pink one. They’re probably right!

The classic Silver Motorola Razr captured the lion’s share of new cell phone buying over the past year or so, causing Motorola to encroach on Nokia’s enviable leading position.

Motorola is planning to cash in on its huge success with the razor thin look and feel of the original Razr v3. The NPD Group, a leading cellular market researcher, found that Motorola cell phone sales accounted for 30% of the 31.6 million cell phones sold in the third quarter of 2005. The Motorola V3i with iTunes software and the Pink and Blue cell phones promise to give Motorola an ever-increasing share of the cell phone market.

People who care about how they look or want to make a statement, will be the first to get their Motorola Razr fix. These Razr thin phones are ceating a lot of attention - making them must-haves in some circles.

Mazal Tov!The Motorola Razor family is growing by four new members; Motorola RAZR Pink (RAZR PNK?) and Razr Blue, (RAZR BLU?) plus two new versions - Motorola CDMA RAZR for Verizon with EVDO and Motorola RAZR V3i (with iTunes). The new Razr phones include all the great features as the original models. The Blue and Pink versions are really style updates designed to make your cell phone an accessory - like a stylish watch.

The new CDMA version of Razr (for Verizon) will satisfy the appetite of Verizon Wireless subscribers who have long ogled over Cingular and T-Mobile’s Razr offerings. The Razr V3i aims to redeem Motorola’s slightly tarnished reputation when it comes to MP3 phones. Unlike the Rocker which had only music going for it, with the Razr V3i the MP3 capability is essentially an add-on.

The Motorola has not made a statement about the chosen carrier for the Motorola v3i many are speculating that Cingular is the choice. Besides being Razr thin like the original Razr v3 the new v3i has added appeal with the inclusion of the Apple i-Tunes software like on the Motorola ROKR released in September in by Cingular, Apple and Motorola. Cingular just slashed the price of the Motorola ROKR by 40% and several leading cell phone dealers like AmericanCell and YouNeverCall now have the Motorola phone available for free with the purchase of a new Cingular plan.

Until now the Motorola Rokr is the only cell phone around that plays tunes from the iTunes Music Store. Another new addition to the ever increasing Motorola Razr family is new Razr VC which operates on networks of CDMA standard wireless EVDO. Christmas holiday season shopping has now been enhanced with the inclusion of the Razr V3i which sports a 1.23-megapixel digital camera with 8x digital zoom, video capture and a full-screen viewfinder.

Additional features include a hot plugging memory card, a display with sixty-five K color support and built-in Bluetooth. For the late summer-early fall season Motorola earned a profit of $1.75 billion on revenue of $9.42 billion. Motorola stated that its monetary gains for this period were all due to the tremendous success of the Motorola Razr v3. Now Motorola is hoping to further push its financial gains for the next quarter! We’ll wait and see

Short message service (SMS) is a wildly popular feature available on most digital mobile phones. SMS allows users to send short messages to other cell phones. These short messages are called text messages. SMS was invented by a Finnish civil servant named Matti Makkonen. Many people understand what SMS is, but few understand how it actually works.

In SMS, messages are sent with a “store-and-forward” mechanism. The messages are sent to a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), and then relayed to the intended recipient. If the messages do not reach the recipient upon the first attempt, then the SMSC will try again. It is important to understand that SMS delivery is not guaranteed. Many messages cannot be delivered, but the delivery is called “best effort.” The amount of attempts to send a text message varies with the company.

SMS messages are transmitted via SS7 within the standard GSM MAP framework. SMS messages have a certain payload length. The signaling protocol is precisely 140 bytes. In simple terms, SMS messages have very constrained character limits. This is why messages are sent in “txt speak.” Text speak is the practice of shortening words and phrases in order to fit messages into the allowed amount of bandwidth. SMS messages cost different amounts in different countries. In the United States, the average message costs 10 cents.

Text messages do not always have to be sent from mobile phone to mobile phone. AOL Instant Messenger has an option that will send instant messages to a cell phone. Additionally, there is a widget available for Mac OS X Tiger that will allow a user to send text messages to a cell phone from the dashboard. SMS messages can also be utilized to give news alerts. Additionally, SMS messages can be used to give sports updates and statistics. In this way, SMS messages are very versatile.

Technology is constantly evolving. SMS services prove that communication is becoming broader and easier. Technologists predict that SMS service will advance such that the service will be more reliable, and be able to store more data for the purpose of transmission

One of the most common uses of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, by businesses and consumers alike, is to ensure security from theft, as well as human safety.

Using a GPS tracking system ( http://www.gpsdevices.info/gps-tracking-system.php ) is an excellent way for an individual or small business to keep track of important equipment including vehicles, machinery, and portable electronic devices, such as laptops and cell phones.

A prime example of the usefulness of GPS technology for security purposes is its abilities in the fight against vehicle theft. If you car or truck were stolen, and it had a GPS vehicle tracking ( http://www.gpsdevices.info/gps-vehicle-tracking.php ) system installed, then you would be able to pinpoint the exact location of the vehicle, and see its exact coordinates on a map. You could then turn this information over to the police, allowing them to retrieve the stolen vehicle, and apprehend those responsible for the theft.

GPS technology can also be instrumental in ensuring basic human safety. This is especially true with children, as every parent’s worst fear is their child getting lost or kidnapped. Fortunately, with the help of a child GPS ( http://www.gpsdevices.info/child-gps.php ) tracking device, you can always know the exact location of your child. In the event of a kidnapping, you would be able to determine the exact location of the kidnapper and notify police and other emergency authorities of this information.

All in all, there is little doubt that GPS can be an excellent way to fight crime, and ensure the safety of your belongings and of your family.

The internet is laden with free things and ringtones are not excluded from this list. You only need a browser to get tons of free ringtones for any make of phone you have.

Typically, you only need to visit one of the hundreds of sites offering ringtones and help yourself to dozens of download available. Though some sites may charge a token fee, many of them offer their services for free because most of the tunes they use are no longer under copyright. Even when tunes have been under copyright, rintgone crazy webmasters have managed to seek licenses to produce tones out of them free for fans.

If you locate a site, the next step is to get the ringtone into your phone memory so you can select it as a ringer. There are several ways to get the tones into your phone: You can use a data cable to transfer the files into your phone, transfer through the net by SMS or manually type the keys on your phone to get the sound.

A more sophicated technology is to use infra red technology like bluetooth to load the sound onto your phone.

Though SMS is supposed to carry text messages primarily, enhanced versions can carry ringtones or sound files to your phone.

Another method that involves a third party is to select a ringtone and the have it texted to you after offering your phone number.

A cell phone with melody composer will allow you to compose tones yourself by manually pressing the keys in sequence to the notes of the tone. In this case, the site will show you the notes equivalent on your keypad and you only have to keep pressing the sequence to generate the tone you want. After typing, you save onto your phone and make it available for use.

Of growing popularity in ringtones are mp3 rintgones which are actual music converted to ringtones. With this system, the voice recorder of the phone can be used to record any sound such as voice or actual music and then stored as a ringtone. Infact this method has enabled many exotic and sometimes latest pop music to be used as ringtones due to its ease of application.

Now some sites offering free ringtones.

http://www.ringtonesgalore.co.uk has a well-laid out site with tones in several formats including key press sequence. It Features pop music and classical tines.

http://www.ringtones4all.com has an overwhelming volume of free ringtones in WAP, midi and key press sequence formats. It has an easy to use interface which suits beginners.

Ringtones help individuals to express their personalities and uniqueness. With midi and mp3 formats available, any sound at all – including one;s own voice, can be easily converted to a ringtone in a matter of seconds

Considering the innumerable varieties of cell phones in the market, it is quite a challenging task to choose the best one. However, the basic criterion of selecting the best cell phone is to be absolutely clear about what your needs are. The best cellular phone is the one that is absolutely right for you. And, of course, you can only have the best cellular phone when you pay for what you want.

Tons of offers are also available. There are free cellular telephone offers, prepaid cellular, digital, mobile, web enabled and many more. No one can tell you which cell phone is best for you because every one has different needs when it comes to their cellular telephone. Some people want absolutely basic features while others want a lot of totally fantastic features. Some need a cellular telephone for e-mail, faxing and surfing the Internet. Many people want it to be top of the line while others prefer simplicity.

The process of buying a cell phone is so confusing. There are simply so many different handsets, networks, deals and call costs to consider that buying the right phone for your usage and budget can be very difficult.

Here are a few tips to help you choose the best cell phone. First of all, decide how much you want to spend and be clear on the features you need. Remember that the more the features, the higher the cost.

Purchase a battery with a decent battery life and judge the mobile phone by the talk time it gives. The bare minimum should be 2 hours of maximum talk-time plus 90 hours of maximum standby time.

Shop and compare for pricing and service. These days, quality phones are very cheap. There is a proliferation of cell phone makers including Nokia, Motorola, Ericson, Siemens, Samsung, Sony, etc. More importantly, cellular plans have come down enormously in overall price with some caveats.

Some standard features include caller ID, phone book with fast dial, call waiting, voice mail and auto-answering. Some also have other added features like your first incoming minute free. The high-end cell phones will have voice-a ctivated dialing, SMS, 2-way paging, games, scheduling calendars, digital organizer and all the standard features. The main thing is to see what fits into your life style best and also to be sure when and if the features expire.

While making a cell phone and service plan decision, remember that everybody's needs are different. So what's good for your friend may not be the best choice for you. Your best bet would be to search online for websites with good cell phone comparisons in order to get a quality cell phone offer.

To make sure that your cell phone comparisons are complete look at Nokia cell phones, Ericsson cell phones, Sprint cell phones, Motorola cell phones and Samsung cell phones. Research the different free cell phone offers, prepaid cell phones and service plans from brand names like AT